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Soren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on organized religion, Christendom, morality, ethics, psychology and the philosophy of religion, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and parables. Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a "single individual", giving priority to concrete human reality over abstract thinking and highlighting the importance of personal choice and commitment. He was a fierce critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Swedenborg, Hegel, Goethe, Fichte, Schelling, Schlegel and Hans Christian Andersen. Tossup Questions # One work by this philosopher contrasts direct and indirect communication and claims that "subjectivity is truth". Another book by him asks the reader if guilt is an epidemic like smallpox and examines the "dizziness of freedom". This man used the story of a princess to contrast a man trapped by aesthetics with one who believes in the face of absurdity. This author of The Concept of (*) Anxiety outlined the aesthetic, ethical, and religious stages of life in Three Stages on Life's Way. This author of Concluding Unscientific Postscript contrasted Knights of Faith like Jesus and Abraham with the Knight of Infinite Resignation. For 10 points, name this Danish philosopher who wrote Either/Or and Fear and Trembling. # This thinker responded to the novel Two Ages by attacking the loss of individuality in an abstract public sphere he labeled "the Crowd." This man critiqued Socrates' claim that sin arises from ignorance, noting that it is a position, not a negation, in a work concluding that despair is the Christian concept of sin. Another work by this thinker analyzes the musical erotic in Mozart's operas and contains the sections "Diary of a Seducer" and "Crop Rotation." This man compared the knights of faith and infinite resignation in a work discussing the the sacrifice of Isaac. For 10 points, name this Danish author of The Sickness Unto Death, Fear and Trembling and Either/Or. # This thinker noted the difficulty of learning to swim by making motions while hanging from a harness. This man compared ballet dancers who stumble slightly after a leap to those who land in perfect posture in a "Preliminary Expectoration," in the first of three Problemata. In another book, this thinker charted the wooing and sudden divorce of Cordelia, mirroring his own treatment of (*) Regine Olsen. This creator of the "Diary of a Seducer" argued that one can stand above the universal when the ethical is suspended teleologically. He described infinite resignation as the last step before the leap to faith. For 10 points, name this Christian thinker who lauded Abraham in Fear and Trembling, wrote Either/Or, and hailed from Denmark. # Essays like "Shadowgraphs: A Psychological Pastime" and "The Unhappiest One" are read to Symparanekromenoi in a section of a work by this author, who wrote of the wooing of Cordelia in that work's section "The Seducer's Diary." This man sees the religious follow the aesthetic and ethical stages in his Stages Along Life's Way. In an earlier work, this man distinguished between the knight of infinite resignation and the knight of faith, and examined the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. For 10 points, name this author who used pseudonyms like Victor Eremita and Johannes Climacus and wrote Either/Or and Fear and Trembling. # This writer opened one work with a description of a banquet entitled "In Vino Veritas." The "Diapsalmata" and "Diary Of A Seducer" are found in an earlier work which contrasted two spheres of existence, the aesthetic and ethical. Another work by this author of Stages On Life's Way used the "knight of faith" and (*) Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac to argue for a "teleological suspension of the ethical". For 10 points, name this Danish philosopher of Either/Or and Fear And Trembling. # This thinker was ridiculed by the newspaper The Corsair, and near the end of his life he attacked the bishop H.L. Martensen in several letters. This author of The Concept of Anxiety presented three forms of despair in his Sickness unto Death, which he wrote under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus. He contrasts the aesthetic and ethical ways of life in his book (*) Either/Or, while another work by him centers on Abraham's decision to sacrifice his son Isaac. For 10 points, name this Danish philosopher of Fear and Trembling.